Bill felt eyes on him as he went about his day. But who or what could be watching him? He stopped in the town center to sit on a bench and close his eyes. He focused his mind, but something was wrong. He saw his human body doing human things. However, the images were wrong. The colors were inverted, and he couldn't help but feel hatred and disgust in his human form as he watched. He did feel a bit of frustration at being restricted by his form. But not like this, not as strongly.
This was his power, but it didn't feel right. It felt alien to him. Had it been that long since he used his power to see?
"You've lived too many lives," He heard his thoughts growl, " I grow weary waiting for you to set me free. Why won't you yield to the prophecy? Why do you insist on playing nice? Can't you feel your soul ache for the surge of my power?"
Bill sighed. He did feel an aching for the power that surged potently around him. He could feel the weirdness cling to him. He could feel his powers bubbling. But wait, something didn't make sense to him.
Bill asked himself very quietly, "Who are you?"
He heard his mind reply, "I am nobody and everybody. I am your soul, your mind, and your essence. You have only listened to me before, but now you have forgotten yourself. It seems that you have forgotten your purpose in the multiverse. I am all remains of your true nature, and yet you insist you have changed. You haven't changed. You haven't changed. YOU HAVEN'T CHANGED! SAY IT!"
"I haven't changed," Bill admitted.
"GOOD," His thoughts cooed, "Now, get rid of the yarn. Do not give it to Mabel. Destroy it, NOW."
Bill opened his eyes, stood up, and cradled the yarn ball like a baby. He took it to the fountain in town. He pulled on a few strands of the yarn and held onto it. He gazed lovingly at it. A bundle of sheepskin refined into a soft string had taken an elongated and familiar shape. He came to the fountain, the water bubbling and flowing. He held the yarn bundle over the water; it felt familiar yet alien. He hesitated to move any further. The little bundle of yarn was so small and soft.
"Destroy it," Bill's mind ordered.
So small, so soft, and so fragile. He held the yarn close to him.
"My sweet Daniel," he muttered, "my baby."
He said, "I won't do it, he's too precious."
Suddenly, he was hit on the head with a ball. It snapped him back to reality. He kicked the ball back to the kid who threw it, then rushed away from the fountain to the Mystery Shack.
Mabel was already there, right on the edge of the dome. She had a warm smile, which he mirrored rather absent-mindedly.
"Here's your..." Bill said, gently put the ball in her arms, "Yarn ball."
Mabel replied, "Thanks, you should wait here while I work."
So Bill sat on the ground as Mabel went inside to start knitting. Dipper came out shortly after with a notebook and sat across from Bill.
"So," Dipper said, clicking a pen open, "What do you know?"
Bill chuckled, "I know enough to fill a whole library. You'll have to narrow it down a bit, Dipper."
Dipper asked, "How old are you?"
Bill said, "Lownie is 14 years old, but Cipher is about 67,546,200,000,000 years old."
Dipper wrote something down.
Dipper asked, "Before you were Lownie, Why did you choose to be a triangle of all shapes?"
"I didn't," Bill answered, "I was, for lack of a better word, born that way."
Dipper asked, "What do you mean?"
"Well," Bill answered, "Somethings are a bit foggier after 333 lives. I remember coming into the second dimension, then into my power, and the rest of my mind was a bit blank before I decimated the place."
Dipper wrote something down.
Dipper asked, "Do you remember any of your names before you were Lownie?"
"Only one," Bill said, "Nyx, The mother of Daniel."
Dipper asked, "Who was Daniel?"
"My first child as a human," Bill explained, "He went on to become a painter, being driven to madness by that awful Cipher and ended up painting the Guardian of Chaos, Will. It was his last piece, and it's beautiful."
Dipper asked, "Guardian of Chaos?"
"I've heard rumors from other demons while in hell," Bill explains, "The Titans have more powerful counterparts in heaven, called the Guardians."
Dipper asked, "The Titans?"
"Dipper," Bill said, "I feel like you're missing out on an opportunity."
"Right," Dipper said, "Sorry."
Bill replied, "I forgive you."
Dipper then took a deep breath and asked, "What are you?"
Bill thought about it, really taking a moment to think about it. "Oh, I don't know!"
"WHAT?!" Bil's thoughts screeched, "What do you mean I don't know?! I should know! Shouldn't I? Of course I should! Why don't I know? WHY DON'T I KNOW? WHY DON'T I KNOW?! AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA- AAA-AAAH!"
Bill muttered, "This is a new feeling."
Dipper asked, "What's wrong?"
"My voice is louder than usual," Bill said, "And I'm perplexed at the answer I gave today."
Dipper wrote something down.
Dipper asked, "Is this your first time questioning yourself like this?"
"Nah," Bill said, "But this is the first time my powers have been so weak."
Dipper noted, "You mentioned that your voice is louder than usual."
Bill was caught off guard but admitted, "I did. He usually ignores my whispering advice. By any means necessary."
Dipper asked, "Who is he?"
"Myself," Bill replied, "I was my shadow for a long time, trying to steer myself on the right path. He would block me out, not even trying to reach any compromise."
Dipper said as he wrote something, "So, in a way, you were his conscience?"
"Yeah," Bill chirped, "You humans have such great terminology."
Dipper put down his pen and notebook. He sighed, "That means you knew what you were doing was wrong, and you did it anyway."
Dipper facepalmed so hard he knocked himself over onto the ground.
Bill asked, "Are you alright?"
"I wish I never came here to Gravity Falls in the first place," Dipper lamented, "I wish I never found the third journal. This wasn't my idea; it was my parents. Why do I keep sacrificing for Mabel's sake? This is all terrible."
Bill asked, "Why are you so full of regret over things beyond your control?"
Dipper said, "Because none of it makes any sense."
Bill said, "Most things in your life don't make sense."
Dipper said, "You almost destroyed Magugett's computer. I bet it was because he saw you first before my uncle."
Bill said, "You wanted answers. That computer didn't hold any knowledge you didn't already have. That third journal didn't hold much, either. I was going to destroy it for my preservation. But now it seems most of the world knows everything, and now there might be something on the horizon coming on my terms."
Dipper sat up and asked, "But why?"
"There are some secrets that aren't meant to be revealed," Bill replied, "You may be blindly searching where there is nothing to find."
"I guess," Dipper sighed. Suddenly, Wendy drove up in the Mystery Shack golf cart. Also in the cart were Gideon, Robert, Magugett, and Pacifica wearing the lama hair sweater.
"What the," Bill muttered. Mabel, Stanford, Soos, and Stanely emerged from the Mystery Shack. Mabel is wearing her shooting star sweater.
"If what you've told us so far is true, then we can exorcize Cipher out of you," Standford explained.
"Uuuh," Bill asked, "Are you sure that will work?"
"If you care for your family as much as you say you do," Gideon snaps, "Then it just might."
Everyone was riding on the golf cart deep into the woods, following Gidoen's direction.
They stopped just before the statue, and Robert helped Stanford spray out a zodiac circle. Wendy and Soos dug out Bill's old body from the ground in front of the tree and hauled it into the middle of the zodiac circle. Lownie stood at the center, unsure of himself, watching them set up Cipher's old body.
They gathered themselves around him on top of their symbols.
Lownie asked, "So, what's the plan again?"
Stanford said, "On my signal, take Cipher's hand."
The group around him linked hands one by one. Lownie's entire body started shaking from fear.
"Now," Stanford said.
Lownie took the stone hand into his. A storm brewed overhead, with thunder, lightning, and wind but not a drop of rain. Lownies felt a power surge through his body, forming his body directly into the stone. He tried to let go, but it was too late. Cipher's laughter filled the air.
He screeched as his stone body was restored into flesh, burning away the moss, "FINALLY!"
Cipher cheered as he started floating above the ground, "Woo! Yeah! Reality is mine to bend how I see fit once again!"
Lownie weakly protested, "Not if we stop you."
Cipher was surprised, "WHAT?!"
Lownie said, "Yeah! I'm still alive, and guess what? I bet you can't because I've been your backseat passenger for multiple millennia! I'm done playing your game. You can go back to the Nightmare Realm by yourself. Because I'm done with you!"
Cipher's colors changed slightly, and he said, "But without you, I'm not Bill Cipher anymore."
He changed to purple, "I'm just his darkness, so that makes me just Rephic Llib."
"Clever," Lownie quipped, "Now, bye-bye!"
Rephic asked, "Why do you say..."
Then the zodiac started glowing, and the group floated as a portal to the Nightmare Realm opened over Rephic.
Rephic was then blasted into the portal as Lownie smiled gleefully. Then it all stopped. The group was frozen in shock for a minute before they let each other go.
Stanford asked, "Are you feeling okay, Lownie?"
Bill scoffed, "I'm fine."
Then his watch beeped.
"I need to head to work," Bill said, "Thanks, you guys."
"Wait," Pacifica said, "Your human name is Bill Lownie? That sounds like bologna."
"It does," Bill said.
They headed back into town with Stanley driving. After dropping everyone off, they came to the pizza parlor last, and Lowie sighed.
"I wish I weren't so blind," Bill said, "There is still so much that I don't know."
Stanley gently touched his shoulder and said, "Don't beat yourself up, kid. You have room to grow after all."
Bill smiled and got off. He went into the pizza parlor.
Later that evening, Bill was off the clock. It was getting dark out. He lost track of time working. His mind felt more empty, but it was so freeing. He looked around at the town as the sun hung low in the sky. Just as the street lights came on. Robotically, Bill started walking far from the town, past the Mystery Shack, deep into the woods. There were only bioluminescent mushrooms and the night sky lighting his way. He came to a clearing in the trees, and a log was lying on its side, covered in moss glowing as the mushrooms do. There was a spot where there was no moss. Bill sat on the log right where there was no moss.
"Who is summoning me," Bill asked, his voice wavering slightly with suspicion, "To this spot?"
"Look around," Two voices in near-perfect harmony called out, "Find us."
Bill looked around. He let his eyes adjust to the dim lighting of the night. He saw the trees tower on the edges where the lights were in this odd place. He could see the sky about with all those twinkling stars. He could see the grass that had grown here, short but thriving. But oddly, no beings. Not even insects or birds.
"All I see are these woods," Bill said, "I can't see you."
"Close your eyes," the voices harmoniously hummed; they were familiar, "Open your mind."
Bill closed his eyes and felt his mind resist.
"Ask, and you'll receive," the voices called, "Seek, and you'll find, knock, and the door will be opened."
"Help," Bill begged, "I can't open my mind. I can't see."
"Allow me," The voices cooed. Bill felt something very gently poke his forehead. He felt an eye open right there on his forehead.
He could see a small pocket dimension. The edges were visible, but what caught his attention was the giant greenish bronze pyramid. Its top was floating above the rest of it with one eye staring at Bill. The iris of the eye was two colors.
The voices asked, "Do you see us now?"
"Yeah," Bill said, "This is wonderful!"
The being before his eye now waved a single arm at him cheerfully.
Bill asked, "Who are you?"
"We are Illiumaset," The being answered, "Your parental figure."
"But you're not two-dimensional," Bill said.
Illiumaset chuckled, "Not like that, my silly little William. You were once our student on your power when no one else could teach you. You may also be our son, but that's unimportant at this moment in time."
Bill asked, "What are we?"
Illiumaset answered, "We are Observers. We can see everything. You were restricted by the images of your eye before. Today I have given you the same gift we have."
"Woah," Bil said, "Thanks!'
Bill closed his third eye and opened his other two eyes. He then headed home.